P710: Yours, mine, and ours: Recognition and ownership in the identity development of practicing scientists and engineers

Andrea Verdan, Gautam Bhattacharyya (Clemson University, USA)

The past decade has shown a steadily increasing interest in the professional identity development of students in science and engineering disciplines. Researchers agree that fostering this identity is an important component of a student’s socialization into a profession. Moreover, our previous research has demonstrated that professional identity development in chemistry graduate students’ is strongly tied to their personal epistemologies of science.

To further understand the relationship of professional identity and scientific epistemologies, we designed a phenomenographical study of academic scientists’ and engineers’ understandings of contributions, collaborations, and credit assignment. The results and inductive, grounded-theory analysis of interviews with faculty members in the College of Engineering and Science at a large, southeastern institution will be presented, revealing a new model of professional identity development. This model will help inform changes in mentorship practices to better prepare students to manage the challenges posed by being scientists and engineers in the 21st-century.